Agenda and minutes

RESOLVED: That Councillor Bernard Peters be appointed Chairman of the Panel for the ensuring year.

RESOLVED: That Councillor Richard Cox be appointed Vice Chairman of the Panel for the ensuring year.

None were made at the meeting.

RESOLVED – That the minutes of the Panel meeting held on 25 April 2022 be approved and signed by the Chairman.

Questions to the Commissioner are invited from members of the public who live or work in Staffordshire.  Notice of questions must be received by no later than three clear working days before the Panel meeting.  More information on where and how to submit a question can be found at https://bit.ly/34arVDw

Questions received by day of publication are listed in the report.

The Panel considered the questions ask by members of the public and the Commissioners written response.  Neither of the members of the public were able to attend the meeting.

RESOLVED: That the questions asked and the Commissioners written response be noted.

Fire and Rescue – 001 Purchase of Fire applications – enhanced rescue pumps.

SCF-D-202223-001-1.pdf (staffordshire-pfcc.gov.uk)

Police and Crime – 001 Additional capital vehicle funding.

SCP-D-202223-001.pdf (staffordshire-pfcc.gov.uk)

Details were submitted of decisions published by the Commissioner since the last Panel meeting.

1.   Fire and Rescue - 001 Purchase of Fire applications – enhanced rescue pumps.

2.   Police and Crime – 001 Additional capital vehicle funding.

The decision to purchase additional vehicles was not questioned but members asked if there had been an increase in cost due to inflation and if so had this meant that funding had been diverted from other budgets to pay for them?  In response, the Commissioner explained that the capital reserve was reasonably strong and had covered the cost.  There would be an MTFS update report to the Panel in October which would go into more detail on budgets and reserves.

RESOLVED – That the decisions be noted.

The Chairman expressed his concern that the annual report had been circulated after the publication of the agenda and this may affect the Panels ability to question the Commissioner. 

Concern was also raised on the Panels ability to monitor the recent inspection report developments/ progress when the information was not published on the Commissioners web site to enable them to see progress.   It was acknowledged that Chief Constable performance and action plans were normally on the website, but this had not been available to view for a number of weeks.

The Commissioner apologised for the lateness of the report.  A draft had been emailed to members prior to the meeting but was not on the panel’s public website.  He explained that performance information would normally be available on his web site, and he would investigate the issue.

The Annual report was presented by the Commissioner who explained the progress made against his strategic plans. 

The recent HMICFRS inspections which had highlighted some failings in the system, had been included in the report and performance against improvements was being measured and was being made public through the Performance meetings held with the Chief Constable.  Public Meetings - Staffordshire Commissioner (staffordshire-pfcc.gov.uk)

The Commissioner highlighted the following form the report:

• The operating models and transformation programme would be monitored, and results evidenced. Update reports and the next Annual report would show the progress.
• Additional funds had been secured for Safer Streets and Safer Women at Night Funds.
• Clear commitment had been made through funding for Community Safety Partnerships; Victim Support Services; and services to tackle Anti-Social Behaviour; and Hate Crime Services.
• All commissioning arrangements were being reviewed.

The Commissioner thanked the Fire and Rescue and Police Services, his staff and his Deputy for their support over the past months and helping to provide services and to prepare strategies and documents such as the Annual report.

Following the Commissioners presentation and questions from the Panel, the following information was shared with the Panel.  This was in addition to that provided in the written report:

• The Panel wanted to see performance against other Police authorities and Key Performance Indicators available on the Commissioners web site.  The Chairman informed the Panel that unfortunately this was not currently available, and this problem needed to be addressed.

• It was hoped that the new Local Policing Model, which went live on the day of this meeting, should help to increase crime prevention as officers would have less distance to travel to attend incidents.  It was acknowledged that it may take up to 12 months to gather data to demonstrate effectiveness.
• Following a question on how the effectiveness of the extra funding for Safer streets would be measured, the Commissioner explained that he expected to see an increase in the night economy; an improved feeling of safety and less street crime.  The Government collected data on how the funding had been spent and set targets to demonstrate how effective it had been.
• Road Safety was an important issue which affected  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

The Panel received the annual report which provided information on the Home Office grant allocated to the Host authority which was intended to meet the costs of the administrative support and management services of the panel.  The Grant allocation for 2022/23 had not yet been received.

RESOLVED – That the report be noted.

The Panel received the annual report which provided information on the number of complaints referred to the panel which relate to the personal conduct of the Commissioner and/or his Deputy.

RESOLVED – That the report be noted.

Members of the Panel questioned/sought the views of the Commissioner on the following issues and received the responses indicated: